FRANCHI, GUGLIELMO DEI:

Jewish convert to Christianity; born at Rome; died there about 1600. Embracing Christianity, he joined the monastic order of Vallombrosa, and devoted himself to the dissemination of knowledge of Hebrew among Christians. In 1596 he published at Rome a Hebrew alphabet ("Alphabeticum Hebraicum"), giving the rules for the reading of Hebrew; and three years later a short Hebrew grammar, "Sole della Lingua Sancta, nel Quale Brevemente si Contiene la Grammatica Hebræa" (Bergamo, 1599).